Return of KP? Army looks to use active duty soldiers as security guards and kitchen workers

Military personnel could soon find themselves in the kitchen
and at guard shacks as the Army looks to lessen its dependence on costly
contractors.

Army leaders have approved a plan to put soldiers to work in
a variety of roles currently filled by contractors, including time in the
dining hall and as security guards. The change will be in effect for up to 18
months, according to a memo signed by Army Secretary John McHugh and obtained
by Army Times.

McHugh's plan would allow military personnel to work outside their
Military Occupational Specialties, or MOS, and could involve as many as 28,000
soldiers in a variety of installation support roles.

The change is another example of the tightening purse strings across the services. Sequestration is set to slice as much as $52 billion from
the Department of Defense next year, with training and personnel taking huge hits.

Also, the Army is looking at cutting back its
number of active duty forces due to budget constraints and the end of two wars.
The Army plans to cut its active duty strength to 420,000, with
315,000 in the Army National Guard and 185,000 in the Reserves by the end of
2023.

Gwendolyn DeFilippi, deputy assistant secretary of the Army,
Force Management, Manpower and Resources, wrote in a document obtained by Army
Times that the use of soldiers in installation functions will give the force
time to readjust its structure.

"There will be a
shortage of training funds and so the majority of soldiers will be trained only
to squad and platoon level tasks," the document said. "Reduced funding will not
support collective training and until Army can align the force structure and
the end strength (likely two or more years into the future), soldiers will be
available to perform base operation functions."

According to the Army Times report, the plan is being met
with resistance from at least one Army official.

"Non-concur! Not an
appropriate function for soldiers," reads a note apparently from Army
Undersecretary Joseph Westphal in an attached document, according to the Army
Times report.

McHugh: I wish I could say better days are ahead

The memo indicates the level of cutbacks the service is
facing while operating in what McHugh called Monday an "unreasonably
constrained fiscal environment." Speaking at the Association of the U.S. Army annual
convention, McHugh said he wished he "could promise that better days lay
ahead," he said.

"Sadly, I just can't."'

Defense News is reporting McHugh took direct aim at the Congressional
dysfunction that has left the services operating on a series of stop-gap
funding measures. The series of Continuing Resolutions have led to cutbacks to
training, operations and workforce.